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Empowering Women, Transforming Urban Futures
Mahila Housing Trust (MHT) is a pioneering techno‑socio grassroot development organization in India, dedicated to transforming urban informal settlements through community‑driven, inclusive technical solutions. MHT believes that women are the catalysts of sustainable and gender‑inclusive cities. By nurturing grassroot institutions and strengthening women’s knowledge and capacities, MHT enables them to actively engage in decision‑making on issues that shape their communities and urban futures.
The socio‑technical nature of MHT uniquely positions it as a bridge between grassroots communities and mainstream public and private sector institutions, advancing responsible urban development and ensuring that women’s leadership drives resilience, inclusivity, and sustainability.
Recent Reports / Research documents
Focusing on women-led development, MHT contributes towards:
18,457
Community Action Group (CAG) Leaders
3,87,826
Households Benefited from Water Management
56,425
Formal Houses / Land Rights for women
39,364
Women Trained as Climate Resilient Specialists
49,000
Women covered under parametric climate risk insurance
85,953
Households adopted energy and climate resilient products
The poor state of the drainage system in our settlement was directly affecting the health of the community. Every few days water would fill up in the drains and the waste would overflow onto the streets. People were falling sick. MHT connected our CAG to the zonal office and assisted us in registering a complaint. We received quick assistance in this matter, greatly improving our streets and our health.
In 2019, my husband and I began constructing our pucca house with the first installment received under the BLC scheme. But due to the pandemic, we stopped receiving money and our work came to a standstill. The local CAG women helped us file requests with the local government where we were informed of a delay in payment. We were advised to apply for a home loan which was facilitated by MHT. Once we started receiving the remaining money, we were able to pay back our loan.
My settlement is situated on a hilltop which makes it difficult for our community members to fetch water as we could never carry the required amount uphill. When I reached out to MHT with this problem, with the support of the community they installed 3 big water tanks with pipe and motor connections. I no longer have to spend time and energy fetching water.
We keep on hearing about the deteriorating air quality in the news, but we didn’t understand how it impacted us and what we could do to combat it. MHT ran a program to train women in our settlement to measure the air quality using monitors. We also disseminated information through rallies, pamphlets, and street plays to increase awareness around air pollution.
I live with my family of six in a small Kutcha room with a kitchen. The lack of space always worried me as there was no place for our family to grow. I began working with MHT, who soom helped me avail a housing loan. Through this I have been able to construct a house for our family and we have enough space to accommodate guests from our village. I can now also begin thinking about getting my sons married and extending our family.
I never left my house for any work and was always dependent on my husband to solve problems. But ever since I began working with MHT, they have trained me to work with government officials to improve my home and my community. The officials now recognize me and people from my community come to me with their habitat problems.
My earnings of INR 250 per day were not sufficient for me to run my house. I could not even send my children to school. 2 years earlier, I took construction related training from MHT’s Karmika programme. Since then I have been working as a Rani Mistry and earn INR 500 per day. Currently, I am working with government contractors on constructing water tanks in Ranchi. I am also more confident about my work which has boosted my sense of individuality.